The numbers on that survey appear to be high for someone with just a pathology residence. I agree that you will probably be in the $100's not the $200's.
However for a pathologist that completed a fellowship these numbers look about right.
Dunno, I dont think you are credible source. Im not ripping on you completely Jason, but your interests lay in lowering the expectations of outgoing trainees to take whatever scraps you throw em and magnify your cut of the year 1 salary.
Salaries vary alot and many groups if they really want you will negotiate.
My theory is this: figure out what you are worth. If that is 200, 300 or 400, whatever for a full time year. Rationalize why: extra fellowships, star rugby player at Philips Academy or Princeton grad etc... Maybe your father is Al Gore.
Then when a pathology group says "we can only afford 150", reply that 150 buys them X amount of time (70%, 50% etc) and you would be happy to accomodate their budget constraints. Job hunting is like house buying. Find someone in dire straits that absolutely needs to hire someone due to a death or unexpected loss. Get a sense of how at the breaking point the other pathologists are and negotiate from there.
In hindsight, it is probably better to find a good job and spend the time looking then taking a crappy one and hope to move up. Some may have financial constraints that make that impossible, but I would urge caution regardless.
From experience, I would say a solid majority of pathology positions are really crappy. Of 20+ interviews I went on, I would say maybe 2 opportunities really impressed me.
I think there is a fine art to feeling out a position prior to accepting an interview. Playing your hand too hard can really make you seem greedy but not asking any questions can lead potential employers to take advantage of you right off the bat. Once you are behind the eight ball like this it can be very hard if not impossible to negotiate your way out. I have walked out in the middle of an interview trip after realizing I had blown this delicate process early on.
From where I stand now though, I think there is a completely different road to travel on. It involves directly engaging hospitals and pitching your own pathology practice. This can be in the event of a death, retirement or simply loss of the primary services contract by another group. You can also see from ads that some groups are trying to expand their coverage and are recruiting new people to fill a seat at hospital X. Then contact hospital X and offer your services. This requires a special type of pathologist, one that is FAR more rare than the show up to work, suit up and push glass-type of employee.
